


Forever and Now

by Ghost_Writing



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Eldian Warriro Unit (Attack on Titan), F/M, First Kiss, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kissing, M/M, Oneshot, Other, POV Second Person, POV reader, Reader is Eldian (Attack on Titan), Red String of Fate, Reiner Braun Needs a Hug, Romantic Soulmates, Soft Reiner Braun, Song: Turning Page (Sleeping At Last), Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29530782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost_Writing/pseuds/Ghost_Writing
Summary: You were sixteen when the red string appeared on your finger. You can still remember the weightless feeling as you watched your heart stretch out through the city and across the sea. Your soulmate was an island devil. Just your luck.
Relationships: Reiner Braun/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	Forever and Now

You were sixteen when the red string appeared on your finger. You can still remember the weightless feeling as you watched your heart stretch out through the city and across the sea. Your soulmate was an island devil. Just your luck.

Taking one look at the string, you sighed and shoved your hand in your pocket, hoping to ignore the painful reminder. A love you’ll never have. So you shoved down your heart, telling everyone you knew you were an ‘unloveable’. Someone who didn’t have a string. With a small smile hiding your heart, you watched platonic and romantic soulmates come together around you, rubbing it in your face about a love you could never have.

So, you weren’t sure to cheer or sob when the string’s position changed two years later. The once long red thread that soared across the ocean slowly moved until it only stretched out across the city. Whoever your soulmate is, had moved here. Had come back to you.

Hope lived in your chest for a year, before wilting away into resigned hopelessness. You hadn’t seen or caught even a glimpse of your soulmate since they’d come across the ocean. It hadn’t been for lack of trying, you wandered around the Eldian district, looking for whoever your heart ached for. Yet, you never found any trace of luck. You never saw a hint of who it could be. 

Now, at the age of twenty, you walked from your day job - a little bookstore in the Eldian district to provide some “colour” and spread Marleyn propaganda (not that you actually sold any) - to your small apartment on the other side of the district as you recalled a conversation from earlier that day. 

_“Come on, (Y/N), you’ve got the biggest heart of all of us. Surely you’re not an unloveable,” your coworker pressed, leaning against the counter as she stared up at you. She was a good girl, married to your other coworker, the two of them being soulmates with Marleyns and thus unable to fall in love with them._

_“I guess fate’s just a cruel force,” you shrug, handing the bag to the Eldian woman who’d purchased a newly released cookbook._

_“Well then at least let me set you up with someone- what about him? He seems nice, stalky build with glasses, an emotional type,” she’s pointing to a slender man standing in one of the isles, bulky glasses slowly falling down his nose._

_“Not my type. Too slender, if you turned him sideways he’d disappear,” you joke, stretching out your back. It had been a long day and you didn’t have a very good bed so your back always ached. Thank the Gods for your weekend off._

_“Okay, then how about her? Tall, well put together- Oo! I bet she’s a construction worker! She could build you a new book shop,” your coworker continued as you shook your head._

_“See the woman she’s standing next to? They’re clutching their hands together, newly found soulmates,” you point out, nodding your head to the nearly unnoticeable gap between them._

_“Well, what about one of the warriors then? The Generals always talking about how he wants them to find a partner for Zeke - he’s an unloveable too - I bet the two of you would get along great,” she blabbers, giving you a sly smile._

_“I’ll never understand where you hear these rumours… besides, Zeke’s not my type. None of the warriors are. They go into war too often, willingly too. People like that - that can hurt people so easily - really aren’t my type,” you sigh as a customer comes up to pay - the stalky man from before._

_“Think about it, (Y/N). You could use someone rather than couping yourself up in this bookshop all day,” she gives up, walking over to restock some of the books._

_You shake your head as she goes, turning your attention to the man:  
“Sorry about that- she gets too invested sometimes. Find everything you were looking for?”_

You’re torn from your memory as someone runs into you, recovering quickly and booking it further. You watch as the warrior candidates race towards the park.

Between your shop and your apartment, there was a small park you always passed by. It made your day to walk by, always seeing children playing and laughing despite the grim reality of the world. 

“Come on Falco! You’re too slow!” Gabi - one of the warrior candidates - shouted as she and the other warrior candidates raced past you.

“No! You’re too fast!” Falco protested, panting as he tried to keep pace with her.

You shook your head, a small smile gracing your lips as you quietly continued your walk towards the park. Their laughter sounded through the street as you reached the park, telling you they were playing with someone. You had to wonder if it was Porco or Zeke today, or maybe even Pieck. Even though seeing the warriors made you remember your place in the world, it was always peaceful to see them taking care of the kids. At least someone was looking out for the next generation.

However, this time when you reached the park, your eyes caught on someone new. He stood tall, with broad shoulders as the kids raced at him, attempting to push him to the ground. Short blond hair hung down on his forehead, a scruffy goatee around his jaw. The band around his bicep told you he was a warrior, yet there was a far more important detail. The red string that ran from his finger to yours, pulling tightly towards him.

You stood there, frozen, as you stared at your hand with bewilderment, your gaze shifting from your ring finger to his. This couldn’t be right. Your soulmate was from Paradis. Weren’t they…?

“Reiner! Look at your finger!” Gabi exclaimed, giggling as the warrior candidates gathered around him to point at the red string tugging towards you.

You silently swore as you remembered children could see other people’s strings until they developed their own. Your body refused to move from its spot in the street as Reiner glanced down at his hand, and then up at you. His eyes widened as he walked around the kids towards you.

Despite your pounding heart, you couldn’t find it in yourself to move from your spot as he crossed through the street towards you. The blanket expression on his face catching your eyes as a small smile grew just enough to only be noticeable from inches away. Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes as he stopped in front of you, clutching his left hand as his eyes slowly trailed up and down your body as if he was taking in a work of art.

Words caught in your throat as you opened your mouth to speak, finding yourself unable to do more than try not to cry. For years you’d spent thinking you’d never meet your soulmate. That you’d spend forever alone. Yet, as his hand reached up to cup the side of your jaw with the gentleness of a feather, you felt the world melt away. As if you’d known him all your life, his presence easy to allow yourself to be lost in despite no words having left your lips.

“Are you really standing here?” he whispered quietly, his left hand reaching down towards your left hand.

“Are you?” you whisper back, lacing your fingers around his as you felt the red string sink into your skin. A thick red band forming around the base of your ring finger.

“I hope so because I wouldn’t be able to bear it if it was a dream,” he mumbles, bringing your left hand up between the two of you to kiss the red band around your finger.

You lift your right hand to mirror his, cupping the side of his jaw as your thumb stroked back and forth idly.  
“Can I kiss you?”

He nods his head, pulling you closer as he dips low to press his lips against yours. Despite the repositioning, it’s the gentlest someone has ever handled you. He cradles the side of your head as his lips barely feel like a flutter against yours. No harsh pressing, no demanding, yet all of the passion and love that made your heart rage. 

Your hand loops around to rest on the nape of his neck and pull him lower as small cheers erupt around you. You knew the whole street was cheering, it happened every time someone found their soulmate, yet you couldn’t be bothered to be embarrassed as he pulled away until his forehead rested against yours. 

“I’ve waited too long to meet you,” he mumbles quietly, gazing into your eyes as if you held all of the secrets of the world.

“Ever since I saw the promise of the world across the ocean,” you hum softly, tilting your head up to press a fleeting kiss to his lips.

“Since forever and now,” he whispers with a smile.


End file.
